This is the 2nd time that JJ has not published what I’ve submitted. The first one was a cartoon I drew of Hajiagha and he said he received it but never published it and then this article. My previous contributions were blogs and this was to be my first article. I thought the rule was if the Editor didn’t like the article (it was not sponge worthy) it’d be published under the Blog section. Well I sent JJ a note and asked him about it and he didn’t responsd. So, I’ll publish it as a blog. Whatever!
Can you imagine this world without religion? Can you? Huh?! There are some examples, like x- Soviet States although they still had their Orthodox sect, or Cuba, although they had it too. Perhaps North Korea or China. These aren’t desirable societies, not because they don’t have religion but because of a combination of things.
I see so many articles by so many writers and commentators who are dead set against religion. They talk to us about 1400 years ago when Islam invaded Iran. They talk as if they were there.
This reminds me of Richard Pryor and his masturbation subject during his early 80s stand up comedy routines. He would say when he was 4 years old he discovered masturbation. He’d say “hmmm what have we here?! Boy! Can’t wait till I tell Dad about it! Dad look what I found out!”
Now this bunch thinks they have discovered the religions’ ills. All of a sudden they think they are the sole believer and get the urge to educate the rest of us!
Mind you they were raised in similar families like you and me and had Talimat Dini (religious studies) in school. Now that they are more educated, they feel the need to educate the rest of us on religion and more importantly Islam. They want to educate us of all people, the readers of Iranian.com who are overwhelmingly NOT religious. Isn’t this funny?! I have no doubt that on their private occasions they probably summon the god almighty more than you and I normally would.
Most of us were raised in families who had religion in them one way or another. If your parents weren’t religious, you probably had an uncle or an aunt or a grand parent who believed in religion. You never thought of them as Islamist or something like that, did you? You may have had some hezbollahe in your family, but chances are he or she wasn’t your favorite person.
I am not religious, not at all, but have a lot of respect for my friends and family who are religious. I have a lot of respect for my countrymen and women in Iran who are religious. Heck on desperate occasions I have summoned God almighty for help with something. So what?
Even if they were raised in an atheist household, they still had other family members who believed in religion. Everywhere we look there is religion. Here in America, the political candidates are trying to exceed each other in their religious credentials. Bush beat Kerry by saying he was not religious enough. Hillary is saying faith is her biggest attribute and the same faith helped her during Monica Lewinsky affair. Bill Clinton summoned his spiritual advisor the next morning he confessed to have a sexual relationship with Monica. In the back of every dollar bill it’s written In God We Trust.
Now our fellow anti-religion friends and writers on this website are going to say “but Islam is different.” Islam is evil. Give me a break. Picture your religion-less world for us before bashing religion and Islam. KKK lynched and burned blacks in the name of Christianity. British enslaved Africans in the name of spreading Christianity and giving them faith.
The most horrible crimes in humanity have been made in the name of religions of every faith. At the same time, many of the poor, the uneducated find solace in religion, be it Islam or Christianity or Judaism.
The point is, don’t take away people’s beliefs if it is comforting to them. They have to live their hard lives one way or another, let them be. Criminals murder and steal despite their religious upbringing. They don’t care about what happens to them after this life. Maybe for some would be criminals, religion is a deterrent. It definitely is a deterrent to some who try to raise their children.
Article after article, comment after comment, it is the same old story or bashing Islam. They are free to say it and think if they say it enough, readers are going to change their minds. Note to all, the overwhelming majority of readers already know about religion and Islam. If some lost soul be it a man or a woman doesn’t have a clue and can easily be swayed to anti-religion slogans, he or she is not someone who thinks for himself or herself individually. He or she is of the mind set of believing whatever is fed to them and at the first sign of personal trouble, he or she will say “please god help, please” faster than you can say Farahzad.
